Honey and i just got married in august, and decided to take our Honeymoon in late September. After such a big to do and the wedding bells had quieted down we hopped on a plane and head for Hawaii.It. Was. Glorious.we went to two of the islands but i truly wish we had time to visit them all (10 year anniversary anyone?). our first visit was to the island of Oahu. Beautiful Island! and very full of 'born islanders'. we liked this very much because local crowds are usually much more low key and know the places to go to do things that don't cost and arm and a leg. Well....maybe literally it would, but know monetarily.we did some fishing, swimming, sea turtle watching, sunset viewing, scuba diving and sushi eating. all very good endeavors, but not as informative about the islands them selves as i would have liked.

to Truly experience anywhere new, you really need to get to the bones of the place. the corner coffee house where all the locals go. or the old beach no one goes to anymore. i like hiking the estremely LOOOOONNNNG trail to a point where we were supposed to see sealions, but never saw a flipper. tell you what though, sitting on that cliffy overhang, eating apples and sweating bullets, was the best picnic of my life

when my dear have been out here before (somewhere between basic training and overseas service) he had the opportunity to attend a luau at a buddies house who grew up on the island. when he talked about the event he didn't just talk about the amazing company or how good the food was, he also talked about HOW they made the food. the whole process is different from your run of the mill cook out and is rooted in tradition. the fired pit is deep underground whole pigs, luau-luau and other treats are roasted there. the menu is heavy in wild boar and fish, seaweed, and tropical fruits. my main staple on the island was the plentiful fresh sashImi, honey, on the other hand lives off all kinds of fare. from Spam Matsubi to hot dogs and fresh caught grey snapper, honey had it all. i do think his favorite was a rather simple one though, it was a Hawaiian take on chicken soup. the Soup is called 'Chicken Long Rice' and incorporates garlic, ginger, chicken and soup into a savory broth that dances between quick cooking rice noodles, carrots, and mushrooms.

when we returned home to the mid 50s weather in pa, nothing seemed more inviting then a warming bowl of Hawaiian soup to take us back to Hawaii....just a little bit. i changed this recipe multiple times until it fit the flavor profile of the soup that hubby liked so much from 'Da Kitchen'.

there are two ways you can do this. one is if you already have broth handy, you can chop breasts or tenders or boneless skinless thighs into cubes marinate in the soy and lemon juice and saute them in a pan with the spices. yoiu then dump the mixture (after deglazing the pan) into the chicken broth with the vegtables and cook 8 hours in the slow cooker. if you take this route, be sure to add extra ginger and garlic to your broth to obtain the desired flavor.if you are using thighs, (and this is my prefered way to do it. the broth has more body) fill your crockpit with water, the thighs and the vegetable scraps from the veggies you precut and stored in the fridge. it is particularly important to get the peel of the ginger root into the broth so that you get that subtle flavor throughout the broth. i also like to have my celery ends, onion peels and small garlic cloves in the mix. set this on low for 8-10 hours. i usually let is go over night and wake up to a lovely broth in the morning.when finished, strain the broth and shred the chicken back into the crockpot. top with the soy and the lemon juice. discard the bones and vegatble scraps. add the broth and vegtables to the crockpot, then set on low for anouther 8 hours.when you return home from work, place your rice noodles into a large bowl and stir while ladeling hot broth over the top. this only takes 2-3 minutes. while not nessisary, the soups we had in hawaii had the VERY long rice noodles chopped into 1 1/2 inch sections. much better for neat eating. to do this, take a fork and lift sections of noodles from the broth bowl. use a pair of scissors and snip the noodles, from the bottom up, into the desired size.strain the broth back into the pot and place the desired amont of noodles in each bowl. top with soup and enjoy